Motivation

Within Buddhism there are two distinct groups―Hinayana and Mahayana―and the main difference between them lies in the motivation of their practitioners. This can be summarized by a quotation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “If you can't help others, at least don't harm them.” Ideally, practitioners should dedicate their activities to helping others in the highest possible way, that is, by leading them to enlightenment.This is the Mahayana motivation: to strive for enlightenment for all sentient beings and underlies both divisions of the Mahayana―the Sutrayana and Tantrayana. The term for this mind of ultimate altruism is bodhichitta. Those unable to generate such an extensive motivation are exhorted to at least not do harm to others, and this is the basis of Hinayana practice: to follow the path of non-violence and to strive for individual liberation from suffering―nirvana.

In terms of Dzogchen the motivation is also that of bodhichitta:

“What is arousing bodhichitta according to the uncommon approach of Dzogchen? This is something that is not even mentioned in the other vehicles. It is "summoning forth or evoking mind as wisdom." There is a difference between "generating bodhichitta using the mind" and "summoning forth or evoking mind as wisdom." What is the uniqueness of generating the heart of the enlightened mind "as wisdom"? It begins from the same premise as the motivation of the sutra vehicle, from the realization that "all sentient beings who do not realize shunyata and who are deluded wander endlessly in the ocean of samsara." But the key point here is that all these sentient beings are recognized as having within themselves inherent wisdom, self-abiding dharmakaya―the self-knowing rigpa, the unity of space and wisdom, that is the actual lama who is the all-pervasive sovereign, the glorious primordial buddha Samantabhadra. That actually resides within us all, and so we wish: "May I be able to bring all sentient beings to the level where they realize this."